Country Baby
by averagemuggle
Summary: When Mimi left the man she loved for the life she missed, she didn't know that she took something just as much hers as it was his with her. What happens when she promises the life meant for Stanley to another man? MimiStanley ch error fixd,last ch posted
1. You Can Have All of My Nothing

"We both knew this was going to happen eventually, Stanley."

"I know. I just thought that you'd take the different road," Stanley's voice cracked as he spoke. Crushing Mimi's heart when it was already smushed to oblivion. The sunlight shone on his face, so that the tears running down his cheeks glittered, "I thought we were in a serious relationship, I thought we were in love," he said.

"We were," she answered, "I still am. It's just…" she walked closer to him, "We both want different things, you're the farm boy that wakes up at four to milk the cows, and is ready to settle down and start a family," she moved closer and placed both hands on his chest, one of the many tears brimming her eyelids slipped out and rolled down her cheek that was already looking less freckled. Her voice cracked as she began to speak again, "And I'm the city girl who drinks Starbucks and detests the domestic mother look."

"Mimi, don't go. Please don't go," Stanley pleaded.

Mimi shook the tears out of her eyes, "Your begging isn't a good enough reason to stay."

"Then let me give you a good reason to stay!" Stanley said. The crack in Mimi's heart deepened as Stanley knelt to one knee.

She took in a quick and squeaky breath and let it out in a shaky sentence, "Please don't make this harder than it already is."

She turned to leave, but he grabbed her. She would have pulled away and bolted to the bus waiting for her, but his eyes held the heartbreaking replica of her broken heart, and his voice sang the melancholies ringing in her soul.

"Before I went to fight in New Bern I told Jake I was going to propose."

"Then why didn't you?" she stuttered.

"I wanted to, when I got home and saw you sleeping there, all I wanted to do was wake you up and marry you then and there. B-but I wanted one of the few things that matter to me more than the farm to be done right. So I spent all this time planning the perfect way to ask, and now," he looked at her one hand he held in both of his, rubbing it between them and bringing it to his lips to kiss. He looked back up at her, "Now it's too late."

She didn't pull away, she savored the feeling of her hand in his.

"Look," he said, "All I have is the exact opposite of what you ever wanted. And if banking gets back to normal, I won't even have that. I've got less than nothing to give you, but I swear I can give you more than anyone else ever could," his eyes were so pleading, so desperate, "Just give me a chance to prove it to you."

"You already did," Mimi answered in a crying voice, "But it's still not enough. Things just-" she choked on the words, "Things just-"

"Changed," Stanley finished for her.

She looked at him and shook her head, "No, they went back to normal."

Tears did not fall down her cheeks like they did so freely on Stanley's but her eyes sobbed dryly. Throwing her arms around him they kissed one last time. She was the one who broke it off. Holding their foreheads together she place her hands upon his tear-stricken face, "I'll never forget you," he whispered.

He stole a greedy, quick, dry kiss before she turned away from him and ran to the bus. Standing on the narrow step, she looked back at him until the doors screeched shut, creating a permanent barrier between them as the bus drove her away to New York.

Stanley heard the loud thud of wood on wood behind him. Jumping round, he saw his sister, a pile of wood before her feet, eyes widely focused on the bus. Looking at Stanley for an explanation, all he could do was look at her with eyes clouded by tears. She ran. Screaming Mimi's name as the bus drove further and further away from her. Stanley thought of what Bonnie's running figure must have looked like to Mimi, through the dusty widows, going from small to smaller so fast. At least Mimi didn't see Bonnie buckle to her knees when the bus disappeared from their sight.


	2. Fate Again

"I think I've seen you before," The man who said it made Mimi nearly fall of the park bench. She had been staring into space, remembering an afternoon spent sitting on the porch steps while bickering, when the man had surprised her. She looked up at him and she immediately remembered him.

"Leo?"

"Mimi!" he smiled the smile that had knocked her off her feet over a year ago.

"Oh my God! Why aren't you dead?!"

"I could ask you the same question," he replied.

"Uh, I was in a small town auditing a farm when it happened. I've been stranded there for a year," Mimi said, "The moment that bus came through town I jumped on it," she lied, it had taken all her strength to turn away from Stanley, "So, what about you. How did you escape the clutches of death?" she asked.

"Same as you, volunteered to go to New York for a conference, turns out choosing work instead of a night on the town was the smartest thing I ever did," he laughed. Mimi smiled. "So," he said, "Ever consider that second date? I mean the restaurant I told you about is no more, but I'm sure we could find someplace decent."

"Wouldn't you call it a first date?" Mimi asked.

"Well, seeing as we talked all night about our interests, work, and family, I'd call it a date," he said.

"Yes but a date also qualifies as going out somewhere, accidentally walked into your office and we ended up talking all night and ordering Chinese food," Mimi argued.

"I guess you have a point there," he said, "But hey, I guess your hope came true, we did meet again. Now, why don't we fulfill my hope," he held out his hand, could I have that date?"

Mimi shrugged and said, "Why not?" she took his and, as a million answers to her question whizzed around her head.


	3. Flashing Back

"_Do you have ice?" she ran into the first open door she saw. Clutching her throbbing forehead._

"_Uh…sure," a man's voice answered._

_She heard rustling around and then felt a hand on her wrist, pulling it off her forehead and something cool being put in its place. With her free hand, she took hold of the ice pack. The man stepped back and she had a clear view of him, "Thanks," she said._

"_No problem," he answered, "Who are you?"_

"_Mimi, Mimi Clark," she answered._

"_Leo Manns," he held out a hand. Mimi shook it._

"_What department do you work in?" he asked._

"_Oh! Ah, I was just visiting a friend who works here," Mimi answered._

"_Oh, well, what do you do?" Leo asked._

"_IRS," Mimi mumbled._

"_What?"_

"_I'm an IRS agent," Mimi answered in a clear voice._

"_Oh," said Leo, "How'd you land that downer?"_

_Mimi looked up, "Well at least my job isn't making anorexic actresses look five pounds lighter," she refuted._

"_N-no, I was talking about that cut," Leo stuttered._

"_Oh! Uhhhhhh, I'm sorry. I…uh…"_

"_Don't worry about it I'm disgusted by it, too," Leo laughed…_

_Neither of them could figure out how the rest of the night happened. They just never got around to saying goodbye. They ended up talking all through the night. They had gone from the topic of comparing magazines to taxes, to the government, to TV shows. It wasn't until Mimi's watch buzzed, reminding her that it was 3AM and that in five hours she was supposed to get on a plane to audit a farm in a small town in Kansas. So, she had bid him farewell, but not before accepting his offer to dinner when she got back. _

_--------------_

Mimi woke up. Leo hadn't crossed her mind since the bombs. Which was strange because he was all she had thought about on the plane ride to Jericho so long ago. But once reunited in New York, by as much chance as when they had first met, memories of him had come roaring back to her. They had felt a connection when they met. And the connection returned when she saw him again. Their second first date had gone incredibly well, and once he learned that she had nowhere to go, he'd insisted she sleep on his couch. So here she was. Living with someone whom she'd only been on six dates with. Perhaps it was the fact that once their dates would end, they'd each go to the same apartment and talk or watch TV until he retreated to his bedroom and she to his couch, that she seemed to be falling for him faster than other boyfriends, of course, she'd lived with Stanley before they even got together, and they…he was ready to get married in less than a year. But she'd only been with Leo for almost two months, and it had been a week since she had begun considering if she might follow him into his bedroom one night. She still hadn't made up her mind on that subject. _It'll happen when it happens._ She'd tell herself.

Rolling onto her other side and trying to fall back asleep, she realized what had really caused her to wake up. Jumping up, she made it to the toilet just before the wave of nausea took over her. Her first instinct, after flushing the toilet and rinsing her mouth, was to remember everything she'd eaten that day, it couldn't have been much, she'd eaten a granola bar while job searching on the internet, that was breakfast, lunch had passed her mind, and Leo had come home with sushi. Yes, it must have been the…another instant wave of nausea had her leaning over the toilet and vomiting in moments.

After falling back to sleep, another internal you're-about-to-throw-up alarm had her awake and over the toilet in five minutes. The night went on like that, until she got the message and stayed awake by the toilet for what was left of the night.

--------------

"Why are you crouched by the toilet with those huge bags under your eyes?" Leo asked, head tilted toothbrush in hand.

"I think the sushi made me sick. I was up all night throwing up," Mimi said.

"It didn't bother me," Leo said.

"I noticed," Mimi replied sarcastically.

Leo laughed a response, "Have I told you you're funnier than I remember?"

"M-many times," Mimi squeaked out before jerking over the toilet to puke again.

"Whoa!" Leo exclaimed, "Maybe I should stay home today, keep an eye on you."

"Don't be silly," Mimi said as she wiped the corners of her mouth with a piece of toilet paper, "It's hard keeping jobs now that there are so many refugees looking for work. You're boss won't enjoy you taking the day off to tend to your sick girlfriend." Mimi assured him.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," she answered.

"Alright. Uh…there's medicine in the cabinet and would you like me to bring anything home with me? Gingerale? Noodle soup?"

"Tomato soup would be nice," Mimi answered.

"Alright, I'll pick some up after work," he said as he kissed her forehead and walked out the door.


	4. The Promise

"How long have you had these symptoms?" Asked the doctor.

"A little over a week," Mimi answered.

The doctor faced her, "Well it sounds to me like you're pregnant."

"I'm not pregnant," Mimi stated, "I haven't had sex for months."

"How many months?" he asked.

"T-Two," Mimi said as she realized the full meaning of this possible pregnancy.

"Well it sounds to me like you could definitely be two months pregnant," he answered.

----------

Mimi left the clinic in a state of shock. How would she explain this to Leo? They'd only been together for less than two months, he would know immediately it wasn't his. It wasn't his. She thought as she placed her hand on her stomach. Stanley's baby was in there. Her baby was in there. Her and Stanley's baby was in their. Oh crap.

----------

"Leo, I need to tell you something," Mimi stood in the dim-lit hallway. Leo sat at the dining room table.

"Sure, what's up?" he smiled as he spoke, so unaware of the bomb she was about to drop.

"I-I'm pregnant," she whispered.

Leo nearly fell back in his chair, "Y-You can't be pregnant. W-We haven't…"

"No no no no no," Mimi quickly assured him, "It happened before I got here, back when I was in Jericho," she said.

"Oh." Leo sank back in his chair, "W-Who is he?"

Mimi shrugged, "His name was Stanley," she said casually, "He was just this random guy, I-uh, I…It didn't mean anything," Mimi lied, "I just didn't see any possible harm," She said, "I guess I was wrong."

"Harm?" Leo exclaimed, "How could you call this harm? You have a whole new speck of life growing inside you! This is an everyday miracle."

Mimi looked at him, "But what about us? I mean, we've haven't even been together for two months. We're not even sure how serious we are yet."

"Mimi," Leo said, "You moved in after our first date, we watch TV together and do each other's laundry. If that's not serious, then what is?"

"But this is a baby, Leo. A baby. And it's not even your baby!" Mimi exclaimed.

Leo hesitated before answering, "Well, who else's baby is it going to be? Stanley's? How will he be the father if he doesn't even know you're pregnant?" Leo paused, giving Mimi a few moments to think up an answer, she couldn't. He continued, "Why don't I just play the step dad? I'll just be dating a single mom, just, she's not a mom yet?"

He walked over and stroked her cheek, and with that one stroke of a cheek, Mimi blurted, "Or you could be the dad dad."

He jumped back, "What?"

"Let's just forget about the biological crap and say you're the father. We'll stay together and have this baby. A-And if things don't work out between us, then you'll still be the father, we'll just be separated parents," Mimi blurted it out in one breath, hardly aware she'd been saying it.

Leo smiled, "That's a great idea."

Mimi laughed, "Really?"

Leo walked up to her, "Except for the part about things not working out between us," he kissed her, "I don't think we'll need to worry about that."

Mimi smiled as he knelt down to her stomach, "Hey little guy," he whispered, "I'm your dad," he kissed her stomach and stood back up. Taking her hands in his, they smiled at each other. Then, she did it. She kissed him. He kissed her back. They kissed again, deeper this time. They didn't stop when backed into his bedroom.


	5. Loving

Four and a half months had passed. Four and a half million things had happened. Mimi didn't sleep on the couch anymore, she slept with Leo. Her belly had swollen and the baby had kicked. Names had been thrown all over the place until they had decided on Galen for a boy, and Sophie for a girl. During a rather hormonal moment, Mimi had told Leo she loved him and didn't know what she'd do with out him, he'd replied with his love in return, along with an assurance that he wasn't going anywhere.. The feeling of loving Stanley had escaped her, she had forgotten how she was supposed to feel towards Leo, but she had a clear enough gist that she loved Leo. There were still times she totally questioned why she didn't feel head over heels for him, but she figured it was simply because of her love for Leo was overshadowed by the breath-taking amount of love her heart held for her baby. The moment she had heard the little heartbeat on the ultrasound, she worried her own heart might have burst. She found herself loving this little person, not even a whole person yet, with a place inside her she never knew she had. She told herself that she did love Leo, the reason for her uneasiness towards the subject was the fact that the baby took up so much love, she only had a small portion left for Leo. Yes, that was it.

She was also throwing up, a lot. It took a good few months to figure out that if she ate what she craved, what the baby craved, she didn't throw up as much. It had seemed simple enough, only the craving of choice was tomato soup, chicken, and tang. All of which made her throat close up with memories of Stanley. So it is difficult to imagine how much worse it could have felt when he called her.

It had been a normal afternoon. Mimi had been knitting a blanket for the baby while waiting for Leo to come home from work, when the phone rang. She walked over to the phone, like she always did when it rang, and answered with a 'hello?'

There was silence before she heard the unmistakable voice of Stanley say, "Mimi?"

Her knees went weak and she felt the immediate need to sit down. Pulling out a chair and plopping down on it, she choked on tears while whispering, "Stanley? H-How did you find me?"

More silence. Then, "I-It took a lot of hard work, so please don't hang up."

"Why did you call me?" Mimi asked.

"How could I not call you?" He replied, "All I've done is miss you, I needed to hear your voice again. I needed to know you were alright."

Mimi wanted to tell him everything. How she had forgotten how sweet his own voice sounded. That she had forgotten what it felt like to love him. That she missed loving him. That his baby was living inside her. But all she said was, "Well don't worry about me, I'm fine."

"You sure?" Stanley asked.

Mimi grunted in frustration, "I'm not going to come back because you called me."

"Figured you'd say that." Stanley's voice was shaky.

Mimi laughed as tears brimmed her eyes, "Figured you say that too," she cooed.

Stanley laughed back before stopping and asking, "What do I have to do to make you come back?"

Mimi sighed, "You always knew I was a city girl, Stanley. You couldn't just walk away from me telling you that Jericho wasn't my life, and expect everything to be fine."

"You told me you couldn't live without me. I'm guessing those were just words," Stanley asked.

"They weren't at the time."

"Oh."

Silence followed for a few brief moments before Stanley piped up, "Would you have married me if you hadn't been able to get out of Jericho?"

The conversation went on, they talked about everything they had ever done, they bickered over what had actually happened, and their feeling towards the chickens. Stanley's humor made Mimi snort, which made Stanley laugh. They were in the middle of huge fits of laughter during a story of the time Sean informed Bonnie on exactly what he was hearing coming from Stanley and Mimi's room, when Leo walked in.

"Hey Baby," he said, and the laughing on Stanley's end of the telephone immediately stopped.

"Who's that?" Stanley asked.

Mimi's heart froze, what was she supposed to say? So she said the only thing that came to mind, "L-Leo."

"Who's Leo?" Stanley asked.

Mimi couldn't answer, she only sat there, phone to ear until she heard Stanley utter, "Fine." And hang up. Mimi wiped away a tear before it had a chance to touch her cheek.

Leo walked over to her and kissed her forehead, "Who was that?" he asked.

Mimi smiled and kissed him back, "No one."


	6. I WANT MY STANLEY!

"Oh my god!" Mimi yelled, clutching her stomach.

"What! What is it?!" Leo jumped up. It had been a quiet, relaxing moment on the couch. Leo had been sitting upright reading a magazine while Mimi's head rested on his lap as she knitted, before she yelled.

"I think I just had a contraction," Mimi breathed.

"What! Are you-Are you sure?" Leo asked.

Mimi sat up, hand on stomach. The feeling had gone. Mimi waited for it to return, it didn't. She shrugged, "No, maybe I just have to pee," Mimi assured Leo as she walked to the bathroom, she was at the doorway before she screamed again, "No! No! The baby's coming! The baby's definitely coming!" She grasped her stomach and began breathing quickly. Leo ran to her and grasped her hands, she squeezed them as hard as she could.

"You're alright. You're alright," he assured her.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," She assured herself.

Leo looked at her, "We need to go to the hospital, okay?"

Mimi nodded, "Okay, I'm okay, I'm okay."

Leo nodded, "Good, let's get going," he said as he walked her over to her jacket and led her out the door, all as she whispered to herself, "I'm okay, I'm okay."

But she didn't believe herself. she didn't believe it when Leo had told her she was okay. She would have believed it if Stanley had said she was okay. Stanley! She wanted her Stanley.

-------------------------

"Don't worry, it doesn't mean any harm to the baby, false labor is perfectly normal this close to the end of pregnancy."

"So the baby's not coming yet?" Mimi asked the doctor.

"No," he assured her, "But it could be any day now, your due date is only a few days away."

Mimi laughed, "Right." She turned to Leo. "You need to work on your coaching skills," she informed him.

"W-What did I do wrong?" he asked, "I did everything they said to do in the classes!"

"Well you must have forgotten something, because I was sure I was going to die," Mimi said.

Leo laughed, "You're not going to die Mimi," he whispered as he kissed her forehead, "I'll never let you get that far away from me."

--------------------------

Mimi tossed and turned in bed that night. What had Leo done wrong? She kept asking herself. Why had his voice assuring her she was doing great felt so wrong? She had rethought everything they had learned in the coaching classes, he had done everything they had said to do, so why? She thought about those minute she had spent by his side, sure that any moment she would be hearing the cries of her baby, while Leo told her quotes of assurance. She had never been more scared in her life during that moment, although she wasn't sure why.

The baby kicked against her stomach. Mimi smiled and rubbed it. "Hey," she whispered, "I thought I was gonna meet you tonight. You know what, Baby? I was disappointed that I still have to wait for you, but you know what else? I was a little bit relieved, we're not ready yet, we really should be by now though, with you coming so soon. But don't worry, we only have a few little things left to do, most of it is done, let's see, the apartment is baby-proofed so you won't walk into a sharp corner or eat something icky, I've read every single parenting book that still exists, many times, we have a beautiful crib for you, and toys, and a changing table, diapers, books, Mozart cd's. I want everything to be perfect for my little," Mimi was more talking to herself now than to the baby, as she finally realized what had been feeling so wrong for the past months, "country baby," she finished. She sat up, holding her swollen stomach, she thought aloud, "You're a country baby, aren't you. You're a regular farm person, who's going to live in the city, the Big Apple," Mimi continued, "Well I have news for you kid: farms stink. You have to hunt, and kill chickens, drive oily tractors, plant corn, water corn, pick corn. It's awful!" Mimi rubbed her belly and thought about the little person inside it, "But at the same time, if the right people are there, it's just wonderful. I-I don't know how to explain it. I guess it's like…you have to wake up early, and work incredibly hard, but none of it matters, because you'll be in the cornfield, all alone, breaking your back, and then, out of nowhere, someone grabs the corn you were going for, and you're with someone amazing, and you don't even realize you're working, because the person beside you takes up so much love you can't focus on anything else," Mimi realized that she wasn't talking to the baby again, looking down at the swollen mound that was her stomach, she said, "I hope you meet people like that one day, your father is one of them after all." Patting her stomach, she said, "I really hope that you meet him one day, I wish that he could be your father." And with that word, and the few kicks that followed, Mimi knew what she had to do.


	7. The Right Wrong Place

"Who are you?" Leo asked the blond man who had woken him up at four-o-clock on a Sunday morning.

"Who are you" the man responded.

Leo shrugged, "Look, this is my apartment so you're gonna be the one answering questions so, who are you? And what are you doing here?"

"Stanley Richmond, I'm looking for Mimi Clark. Is she here?"

"How do you know Mimi?" Leo asked.

"She lived with me when she was stranded in Jericho. Can you please tell me where she is?"

Leo wasn't completely awake, which was most likely why he didn't put the puzzle pieces together and realize he could easily be talking to the father of Mimi's baby, instead he just answered, "She's gone."

"What d'you mean?" Stanley asked.

"She left, a couple hours ago I think, she said something about a country baby growing up in the city, and then she said something the city was her lifestyle but people had become her life, either way she left me and took the kid with her."

"What?" Stanley asked.

"Crazy isn't it?" Leo replied, "Can't help but say I'm a little bit relieved, she was always going on about how much she already loved it, I was pretty freaked, seeing as that no matter how hard I tried, it still felt like it was gonna be a burden to me."

"Sh-She's pregnant?" Stanley stammered.

"Yeah, it wasn't even mine, she had a one night stand with a farmer before she got here, I dunno, she said it didn't mean anything."

"D-Did she say where she was going?" Stanley asked.

Leo rubbed the back of his neck, still confused by this Stanley standing before him, "She just said she was going back to where her baby's life was."

Before Leo could breath after he said it, Stanley was zipping down the hall.


	8. Race Against Time

_This is a stupid idea. A stupid stupid stupid idea._ Mimi thought as she drove Leo's small car across an empty road. Ever since she'd began heading back to Jericho, that little voice had been banging against her brain, like a child desperate for attention. She didn't know why she wasn't listening to it. She usually did, there was no voice encouraging her to keep on driving and following the signs, no thought of what she would do when she saw Stanley again. She just kept driving.

--------------

How long had it been? A day? Two? Whatever. She had been driving for a long time, without sleeping, without stopping for any reason. And the effects were beginning to wear her down. Her eyes felt dry and sticky, her nose was stuffed, and her head throbbed as steadily as the baby's kicking, which was her only comfort. Until she turned the corner, and the cornfields began. She finally stopped, and jumped out of the car.

She patted her stomach and laughed, "Do you know where we are Baby!" She screamed in joy, "We have reached the most scenic part of the trip! Corn! Three glorious hours of corn! And then we'll see your daddy!" She laughed some more, and let the sun kiss her face. She sat down, right there in the middle of the dirt road, savoring the smells and the sounds and feeling of safety, of being where she wanted to be, or well on her way at least. Giving her belly another quick rub, she slowly stood up and walked back into the car, smiling at the endless stretch of corn, she relished the beauty for another moment before stepping on the gas and driving, watching row after row of corn pass her. She settled into the calm…

"Oh no!"

The car screeched to a halt. Mimi dug her fingernails in the leather of the steering wheel, and waited for the contraction to end. It did, and her breathing regained normalicy.

"Not now," she whispered, "Oh, anytime but now! Please please please don't start again.

They didn't.

"Okay," Mimi assured herself, "Just keep moving." She started the car again, before slamming on the brakes again. "Dammit!" she yelled, "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! This cannot be happening!" But another contraction proved her wrong and she slammed on the gas, breathing heavily the whole time. _Just a few hours away. Just a few hours away. _The voice in her head screamed.


	9. Half Right

Bonnie was half way through the hallway, storming towards Mimi who she had just noticed was standing at the front desk of the hospital, looking panicked, when She saw her.

"Bonnie!" Mimi signed, "Bonnie, where's Stanley?"

"What are you doing here?" Bonnie signed as she continued storming towards Mimi, "Did ripping his heart to shreds not do it for you!"

"For god's sake, Bonnie!" Mimi stepped away from the desk, revealing a very swollen stomach. "I'm in freaking labour! Unless you want Stanley to miss the birth of his first child, I suggest you find out where he is and drag him down-" Mimi stopped mid-sentence to clutch her stomach and scream. Bonnie couldn't hear it, but Mimi's eyes held such shock and fear, that in the midst of her own shock, Bonnie ran over to her and took Mimi's hands.

"You're going to be fine," Bonnie assured her, "Let's get you to a room."

A few nurses had already surrounded them, Bonnie helped Mimi into a wheelchair held out by Mrs. Green, and they quickly wheeled her to the nearest room with a bed, which she was quickly placed on, all while Bonnie held her hand.

Bonnie looked to Mrs. Green, who signed to Bonnie, "She been driving for days, and started going into labour three hours before she got here."

Bonnie looked back at Mimi, who had stopped squeezing her hand. Her face was damp with sweat, and wet clumps of her hair clung to the side of her face. Bonnie pulled a few of them back and grabbed Mimi's face, "How far along are you?"

Mimi breathed in a few times before her lips formed the words, "nine months."

Bonnie's first instinc was to shake the living daylights of the woman before her, but she knew that wasn't the best thing to do in their current situation, so she simply screamed, "ARE YOU _CRAZY_?!!! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!!!"

"I had to see him!" Mimi replied, "I had to-had to see him." Mimi took in a few more deep breaths before continuing, "I realized that I didn't want anyone to be its father but him. The city's just a lifestyle, but you and Stanley are my life, and now this baby's gonna be my life, too. Our life if he'll forgive me." Mimi was quiet a few minutes after she said it before leaning forward, obviously another contraction. Bonnie grabbed her hand and she squeezed it. After a few moments, Mimi's grip loosened and she looked up at Bonnie, who didn't let go, just smiled at Mimi and said, "He went looking for you."

Mimi immediately jumped up and squeezed Bonnie's hand again. Upon finishing screaming in pain, Mimi yelled, "WHEN!!!?"


	10. Everyday Miracle

**AN:// HOLY CRAP!!! So, I'm writing this chapter and I'm almost done, and then I look at the clock and I realize Jericho will be on in 2 minutes. So I rush to the couch and figure I'll finish the chapter when it's over. So I set up the VCR to record so my dad can watch it when he gets home from his meeting. And the episode proceeds and I'm enjoying it with my mom, then, about 20 minutes before it ends, the phone rings, so my mom answers and it's someone she enjoys talking to because she doesn't hang up when the commercial break ends, so guess what I had to watch alone? Yep, that AWFUL Bonnie vs. Ravenwood scene. So they cut off right before you see who gets shot, and I'm telling myself, they'll be fine, Goetz is dead, Mimi and Bonnie will be just fine. My whole body's shaking, Mom's walking around the house, laughing on the phone, and she walks through the TV room just as they're putting the oxygen mask on Mimi, she turns and looks at me with horror-filled eyes, and then leaves JUST as they show Stanley(poor poor Stanley) cradling poor poor Bonnie's body, my heart sinks to my stomache. And I'm thinking, 'that was the worst thing that TV has ever done, even worse than canceling Jericho in the first place. I'll never be able to watch that again' but then of course, Mom finally gets off the phone and rushes into the living room and screams 'WHAT WAS THAT? IS MIMI OKAY? WHAT HAPPENED?" and I'm paralysed with shock so I can't answer, so Mom goes ahead and rewinds it and watches the scene with me sitting right there, unable to get back up. Then it ends and my legs regain feeling so I walk to the kitchen and drink something to calm down and me and my mom scream out our frustration. Then my dad comes home and starts watching it, so I go back to the computer and try to finish the chapter, but I had to reread the chapter to figure out where I was, the second I read Bonnie's first line, it's like 'crap, I'll never be able to write Jericho fanfiction again. So I work on my HP fic for an hour, or what I thought was an hour, and I walk into the living room, JUST as dad gets to THAT PART. About a half hour later, Mom has the song they played during the end stuck in her head, I'm on the couch reading when she turns on the TV to listen to it…twice. Mom goes to bed, me and dad stay up to watch tv, there's nothing on, so I be be the blonde that I am and say, 'it's like 3 to 11, lets watch the Jericho preview on cbs' so we do, and guess what part it's at…THAT FRIKEN PART!!!**

**So that, my readers, is why you don't record sad episodes, because, like me, you could end up watching the same, heartbreaking scene 6 times. For what it's worth, though, that 6****th**** time was totally worth it, cuz the next episode looks like it's gonna be AWESOME! Did anyone else see it? Mimi's in the hospital and Ravenwood wants to get in so there's gonna be this big standoff. I'm so stoked!**

**If you don't mind, I'm gonna go ahead and rant a little bit before the chapter…**

**WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!!! THIS SUCKS!!! Bonnie was my fav, other than Jimmy and Hawkins and Stanley and Mimi. Stanley's gonna be so sad! And angry! POOR STANLEY!!! He's gotta worry about his fiancé while mourning the loss of his sister who was like, his daughter, you know, like he raised and all that! Mimi and Stanley were always the fluffy comic relief of this intense show, now they'll likely be the most intense…WHAT IF THEY FALL APART!!! Mimi's gonna be so angry with herself!**

**I know the shows on a budget so they cant afford the whole cast, but why didn't they just send bonnie to Cheyenne! It was either Cheyenne or Heaven…Dear Jericho writers, here's a little tip: ****ALWAYS PICK CHEYENNE!!!!!!!!!! **

**This was a terrible time to kill Bonnie, that moment in the 3****rd**** episode was so touching, she had her whole life ahead of her and was off to find out what she was going to do with it…damn I'm depressed.**

**Although I do have to say, it's great that Mimi and Stanley are about to become more than the mushy subplot, I'm looking forward to seeing what the writers did with this situation.**

**RIP Bonnie Richmond, you totally rocked.**

**------------------------------------------------ **

Stanley didn't know what he'd expected. He had no idea what car Mimi was driving or who would have seen her. His first instinct had been to see if she was at the farm, she wasn't. His second thought was to check Baily's, before he realized that there was no way she could be at the bar. Maybe Bonnie had seen her, so he drove to the clinic. Mrs. Green was rushing down the hallway carrying a few towels, which she dropped the moment Stanley caught her eye.

"Stanley!" she called, "Oh, thank god!"

--------------------

"No way!" Mimi screamed, "I'm not pushing!"

"You have to push, Mimi!" Bonnie told her.

"I'M NOT…" Mimi stopped mid-sentence as another contraction took over her.

"The baby's crowning, Mimi, just push and it will all be over!" Bonnie demanded.

"No…" another contraction, and Mimi knew she had had enough, "Alright! Alright!" she screamed.

"Okay," Bonnie gripped Mimi's hand, "Ready?"

"Nowhere near it," Mimi replied.

Bonnie smiled before ordering, "Now!"

Mimi pushed. "Again!" Bonnie ordered and Mimi obliged.

Halfway through her third push, one voice was heard over her deafening scream.

"Mimi?!"

Mimi looked up, "Stanley?"

Stanley looked dumbstruck, "Is it-Is it mine?" he asked.

"Mimi, you have to push again," Bonnie told her.

Mimi took a deep breath and pushed, "AHHHHHHHH! IT'S YOURS!" she screamed to Stanley.

"And you weren't going to tell me?!" Stanley shouted.

"AHHHHHHH! I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO…AHHHHHHHHH…DO!" Mimi screamed back.

"So what does this mean then?!" Stanley shouted as he walked to her bedside, "Why did you suddenly come back?!"

Mimi opened her mouth to answer, but instead screamed as she made another push, Bonnie's hand had escaped her grasp, and with nothing to hold onto, she panicked and grabbed Stanley's shoulder while screaming, "I DON'T KNOW, STANLEY! OKAY! I DON'T…"

The room immediately succumbed to a silence that was instantly filled with the sound of a newborn's wail. The pain stopped the moment the doctor held up the most beautiful baby Mimi had ever seen, tears welled in her eyes and her throat closed up as the doctors wrapped her little baby in a blue blanket. Mimi held out her arms and the doctor handed her the tiny child. "It's a boy," the doctor told her.

Mimi pulled the baby close to her, looking into those eyes, tears spilled freely from her face as she quietly laughed. She bounced him up and down lightly as her son's crying ceased.

"Oh my god…" she heard Stanley whisper.

Pulling her eyes away from the tiny miracle in her arms, she looked at Stanley, and found herself looking into the same pair of eyes that her baby possessed. "I know," she smiled as she answered Stanley.

Stanley looked back at the baby, and reached out his hand to stroke the baby's head, "Hey little guy," he whispered.

Mimi laughed, "He has your eyes," she whispered to Stanley.

"He has your freckles," Stanley whispered back.

Mimi laughed again and looked back into Stanley's eyes, and out of nowhere, without thought, without voices in their heads telling them what to do, they kissed. And it was in that kiss and that moment that Mimi remembered the magical feeling of loving Stanley. Her unimaginable amount of love for him didn't take any love of hers that still belonged to their child, not one bit.

And that was how Mimi Clark realized that love was not a material of which she only had so much to go around. It was an ability, that everyone had, an ability that only became greaer when the right people, like Stanley and Bonnie and the beautiful baby in her arms, came around and gave you something to love.

And with that realization and the end of the kiss, Mimi looked back down at the tiny miracle in her arms that seemed bigger than the world to her, "Don't worry baby," she whispered through laughter and tears and the feeling of Stanley's hand resting gingerly on the small of her back while his other hand rested on their child, "I'm not going anywhere." She said.

The End


End file.
